Race Against Diabetes 2026

You’re not made of sugar—run against it!

In Cergy, even contemporary art shows the way: the Axe Majeur runs in a straight line for 3.2 km toward Paris 🗼. For one morning, the new town in the Val-d'Oise offers another direction—far more athletic: the finish line of the Race Against Diabetes 🎯. Head to the Cergy-Pontoise Leisure Island, nestled in a loop of the Oise between Cergy and Neuville-sur-Oise, about thirty kilometers from the capital. The event takes place in early November, just a few days before World Diabetes Day on November 14 📅. Weather-wise, the Île-de-France autumn is happy to paint the sky gray: expect 7 to 11°C on average, with a shower always possible on the program 🌦️. Nothing dramatic—one cool early morning wakes up the legs more surely than a double espresso ☕.

All three formats set off from the heart of the Cergy-Pontoise Leisure Island, a former gravel pit converted into a 250-hectare green lung, half of which is water 🛶. You’ll zigzag between lakes and ponds with promise-filled names, from the Galets pond to the Hautes-Bornes pond, before running alongside the vast Folie pond, where sailboats tack while you work your legs ⛵. In the middle of the water rise the Astronomical Island, round as a coin, and a white concrete pyramid that seems to float 🔺. These two stations are part of the Axe Majeur by sculptor Dani Karavan, whose bright-red footbridge spans the Oise in the background. As for the profile, the base sits at the bottom of the valley: not a single nasty climb on the horizon, just a flat, fast course where the wind sweeping across the water will serve as your only hill 🌀. The 5 km, ideal for a first experience, the 10 km, made for an end-of-season personal best, and the family walk share the same nature run setting. The most curious will glance toward the bird observatory, where herons and grebes couldn’t care less about your time 🦢.

Every stride counts double. The Lions Club of Cergy Ville Nouvelle, the local branch of Lions Clubs International—which has made diabetes one of its major global causes—organizes the event with the Maison du Diabète et de la Nutrition 95 🦁. The profits from this charity race directly fund prevention, support, and health education throughout the department. MDN95 welcomes patients free of charge with dietitians, nurses, psychologists, and podiatrists. The association travels across the Val-d'Oise aboard its Diabéto Minibus 🚐. On site, free diabetes screening awaits you, as well as a blood glucose test before and after the effort to measure, in black and white, the effect of regular activity. The Race Against Diabetes also rewards the fastest: cups and medals go to the top three in each category, for both men and women, and many prizes circulate in the village 🏆. No dedicated kids’ race—the family walk welcomes young and old alike in a friendly atmosphere.

After the finish, save a bit of energy for heritage. Heading back up the Axe Majeur, you’ll cross the Orchard of the Impressionists and its some 870 fruit trees, a nod to Camille Pissarro, who long painted nearby Pontoise 🎨. A bite of apple under the branches makes a recovery snack perfectly in tune with the day’s theme 🍏. A bit further upstream on the Oise, Auvers-sur-Oise preserves the church and fields immortalized by Vincent van Gogh, while the French Vexin stretches its agricultural plateaus to the west 🌾. For those hooked on waterside trails, the base also hosts the Tour des étangs de Cergy in winter and the headlamp-lit Essec Night Run 🔦.

In Cergy, the Axe stays major and sugar becomes minor! 🎶